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A vintage black Colorado license plate
An example of the 1945 Colorado license plate that was revived as part of a selection of retro plates. (Absecon 49, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons)
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Good morning! How’s your year been?

So far most of my 2025 has been spent in a car, returning from a long trip to Texas, so it can only get better for me, right?

We’re hitting the ground running this year, digging into where the money for those slick black license plates is going, why the EPA doesn’t want Suncor to get a new permit (yet) and much more, so let’s grab a tall gas station coffee and get on the road already, shall we?

BREAKING NEWS: Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser launches 2026 campaign for governor. Weiser is the first major Democratic candidate to jump into what’s expected to be a crowded contest. Jesse Paul has more.

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Colorado has added new license plate options and reintroduced old versions, including the plates with black, red and blue backgrounds, in recent years. (Illustration by The Colorado Sun via Colorado Department of Revenue)

$25

The amount per retro license plate sold received by the Colorado Disability Opportunity Office

Back in 2021, Colorado reintroduced four retro license plate styles — including the classic white letters on green mountains — but the biggest hit has been the 1945 black plate. And the new Colorado Disability Opportunity Office couldn’t be happier to benefit from their popularity, Jennifer Brown reports.

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One of the Suncor facilities photographed Oct. 16 at the Suncor Energy Refinery in Commerce City. (Claudia A. Garcia, Special to The Colorado Sun)

The Environmental Protection Agency said the latest Colorado-issued permit for Suncor’s refinery operations in Commerce City lacked oversight and assurances about limiting pollution and sent it back for revisions, Michael Booth reports.

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Colorado Parks and Wildlife released five gray wolves onto public land in Grand County on Dec. 18, 2023. Pictured is wolf 2302-OR, a juvenile female weighing 68 pounds. (Jerry Neal, Colorado Parks and Wildlife)

If each of the claims made by ranchers for wolf-related livestock deaths and other impacts were approved, it would deplete the funds made available by the legislature and require a dip into the state’s general fund. But as Tracy Ross reports, many of the claims will be hard to prove the involvement of wolves and are unlikely to be approved.

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Press operators Mike Rivera, right, and Neil Bastion prepare a roll of paper Dec. 9 to feed the press machine inside the CCM press plant in Denver. (Kathryn Scott, Special to The Colorado Sun)

As you may have read in the digital pages of The Sun, 2024 was an interesting year in Colorado’s media landscape. Media observer Corey Hutchins digs into the year’s stories of loss, triumph and experimentation.

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A graphic showing how much the ingredients in a burger have increased
The Bread Bar building has remained largely the same since it was built in the 1890s. The newest owners did renovate the back patio, though, adding slick outdoor seating for private events and summer happenings. (Ali Vagnini for Bread Bar)

Open Pick at Bread Bar. If you’ve never been by this 1890s grain shop turned warm, woody bar, the scene alone is worth a stop. The historic building has changed hands a few times over the past hundred-plus years, but each subsequent owner — the baker, the apothecary and the bartenders — have carefully retained the old building’s charm (and, if there are any, probably its ghosts, too).

Bread Bar became Bread Bar in 2016, and has steadily served a tight menu of local beers, wines, seltzers and specialty cocktails that nod to Silver Plume’s mining town history. The bar is only open three nights a week, and they take full advantage by hosting live shows, vinyl nights and bartender takeovers.

A couple of months back, Bread Bar started Open Pick First Fridays, a public jam session for anyone who wants to bring their strings or just sing along. Join the fest this Friday starting at 6 p.m. Free drinks for the pickers, live entertainment for everyone else.

Free; 6 p.m.-close; Bread Bar, 1010 Main St., Silver Plume

Two days down, 363 to go! Let’s all have a great Thursday and meet back here tomorrow morning to discuss, OK?

— Eric & the whole staff of The Sun

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Type of Story: News

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